While the core hardware of eight of the 13 new Northstar AS/400 servers announced today (see Top Stories) is the same, the performance customers can expect from them depends on which models they buy and what applications they run. This stratification of system and server capabilities by workload follows along the same lines that IBM set down with the Apaches last year. The 650-2188 (eight processors) and 650-2189 (twelve processors) is a full-fledged AS/400e system. It can run old green screen applications as well as new client server workloads equally well, and it will probably cost five times as much as the S40-2207 and S40-2208 servers, which have their green-screen software crippled to encourage AS/400 shops to update their old dumb tubes applications to make use of client/server technologies. The crippleware factor, which is done through software tricks, is significant: a regular twelve-way Northstar AS/400 has an IBM relative power rating of 4550 for client/server applications and about 3400 for green screen applications; the same hardware running a server version of the OS/400 operating system has the same client/server rating, but has a rating of only 120 for green screen jobs. There are also specialized models of the new S40 servers for supporting ERP suites. The SB1 Northstars are specifically designed to support the middle tier in a three tier SAP R/3 implementation; the S40-2340 and S40-2341 are special models of the S40 Northstars that have significantly better green screen performance (about a third of plain vanilla 650 models instead of a mere fraction); these machines are designed to support a mix of legacy RPG applications and new client/server ERP suites from JD Edwards, System Software Associates, MAPICS, Intentia and JBA. The high-end was not the only thing IBM refreshed with the Northstar line. IBM also put Northstar processors in its successful model 170 Invader line for small and medium businesses. The Apache Invaders were announced last February, featuring the best band for the buck in the AS/400 line. The machines, which strictly speaking are server implementations, nevertheless have enough green screen performance, even after IBM has tuned down its performance on those workloads, to support the modest processing needs of such small AS/400 shops. (These companies comprise 80 percent of the AS/400 base, so it is no wonder IBM also announced a refresh down here, too.) The four smallest 170 models use a 200 megahertz Northstar chip with its L2 cache completely removed; regardless of the fact that the resulting servers should have twice the performance of the Apache models they replace, they in fact have almost the same exact performance. They do, however, support IBM’s 17.5 gigabyte disks (the Apache Invaders do not) and they also have higher software tiers, which means ISVs can charge more for their software for the Northstar Invaders than they did for the Apache Invaders. This puts ISV software costs at somewhere midway between a regular AS/400e system and the very low prices for Apache Invaders, a compromise that IBM was undoubtedly forced to concede to (AS/400s have their operating system and data base bundled in, so it doesn’t make much difference to IBM what tiers the machines are in). The next biggest 170 Northstar Invader runs at 200 megahertz, has a 4 megabyte stick of L2 cache, can have up to 3.5 gigabytes of memory instead of the 1 gigabyte of the prior Apache model, and has a slightly higher client/server performance rating and the same green screen power rating as the Apache it replaces. The extra memory and disk capacity, which doesn’t help performance on the Commercial Performance Workload test IBM uses to gauge relative performance in the AS/400 line, obviously comes in handy for customers running big ERP suites in the boxes and they will definitely see a performance benefit compared to the Apache models. The biggest model 170 uses a 252 megahertz Northstar chip with 4 megabytes of L2 cache and the 3.5 gigabytes of main memory; this model has the exact same client/server performance of the model before it with a lower clock speed and no L2 cache, but it has slightly higher green screen performance. Tomorrow, we will provide pricing data for the Northstar machines, which IBM hasn’t talked about as yet. As IBM releases more data on its improvements to the OS/400 operating system, we’ll cover this, too.
